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Music & Musical Instruments

The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Several of these rare instruments can be heard in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players and in other public programs. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the Museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician.

This sheet music for the comic opera, “La Mascotte” was written by Edmond Audran. This sheet music was published by various sponsors in New York, New York in 1898. “La Mascotte” (The Mascot) was a comic opera in three acts, originally published in 1880 about a girl who brings good luck (beginning the use of the word mascot to mean something that brings luck). The music was published as advertisement for both Knox Hatters and Bonnet Alcohol Importers, who are advertising their wares on the cover.

This sheet music is for the song “Memphis Underground.” The song was composed and performed by Herbie Mann as a jazz flute solo, and published in 1969 by the Herbie Mann Music Corporation. The song belonged to an album of the same name.